AUSTIN — In his three years in the Texas House of Representatives, Charles Perry has had numerous tough votes.

But his “nay” vote at a Monday committee hearing — the only one against recommending the impeachment of University of Texas Board of Regents member Wallace Hall Jr. to the Texas Legislature — was the toughest, Perry said.

“I think it is a bad precedent in multiple levels,” the Lubbock Republican said in an interview after the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations voted 7-1 to begin drafting articles of impeachment against Hall on grounds of abuse of power.

“It potentially changes the way the state of Texas does government,” Perry said. “I don’t think it’s the Legislature’s role to mediate disputes between these guys.”

This was in reference to testimony the panel of four Democrats and four Republicans heard in periodic public hearings held since last fall. A 176-page draft report the panel received last month concluded that Hall abused his authority in his effort to oust UT President Bill Powers.

With its overwhelming vote, the House Transparency Committee agreed with the conclusion of Rusty Hardin, the panel’s attorney, that there were grounds to impeach Hall for abusing his position in his relentless efforts to oust Powers — a vote the embattled regent disagreed with.

“My efforts as regent are to serve the interests of our great educational institutions, the students, faculty and staff who make them great, and the taxpayers who fund them, not to appease a privileged class who abuse them,” Hall said in a statement issued after the panel voted, the Associated Press reported.

In a committee hearing, the committee heard testimony that Hall had requested more than 800,000 pages from UT staff, a request that cost the school about $1 million. Hall was also accused of divulging personal student information.

Powers also told the panel that his battles with Hall had done “significant harm to our reputation in the academic world, nationally and internationally.”

Rep. Four Price, also a member of the panel, said he voted to recommend impeachment based on the evidence presented to the committee.

“I am satisfied that grounds for impeachment exist,” Price, R-Amarillo, said in a statement. Price left after the hearing ended to focus on the massive wildfire in Fritch.

Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, co-chairman of the panel, said he is satisfied with what transpired Monday and during previous hearings.

“It’s another step in the process,” Flynn said in a separate post-hearing interview.

He also understands and respects Perry’s decision to vote against recommending articles of impeachment, Flynn said.

“I talked to Rep. Perry about this and I respect his position and I respect his vote,” Flynn said.

The panel took its work very seriously and the members also realize it was a historic vote, Flynn said.

There have only two impeachments in Texas history, in 1917 and in 1975. In the first, Gov. James Edward “Pa” Ferguson was removed from office for retaliating against the University of Texas for not firing some faculty members he objected to. In the second, South Texas Judge O.P. Carrillo was impeached for judicial misconduct and a year later the Texas Supreme Court removed him from office.

However, if the Legislature impeaches Hall, he would be the first un-elected public official impeached. Gov. Rick Perry appointed him to a six-year term in 2011.

House Speaker Joe Straus praised the panel for its work.

“This committee has taken its oversight responsibility very seriously, and its work has brought to light significant concerns about the University of Texas System and its Board of Regents,” Straus, R-San Antonio, said in a statement after Monday’s vote.

“As that work continues, I hope the Board will take its own steps to address the trust that has been broken among Regents and the harm that some Regents have inflicted on the UT System,” Straus said.

The panel will meet again on May 21 and 22 to begin drafting the articles of impeachment but more meetings may be needed before recommending Hall’s impeachment to the Legislature.

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Anyone who slams Representative Perry on this ,is truly an ignoramus. This story is ripe with corruption on all sides. Wallace did nothing wrong ,except to expose the corruption in the good old boy UT system.